2026 AMC 8 Problem 13

The figure below shows a tiling of 1 \times 1 unit squares. Each row of unit squares is shifted horizontally by half a unit relative to the row above it. A shaded square is drawn on top of the tiling. Each vertex of the shaded square is a vertex of one of the unit squares. In square units, what is the area of the shaded square?

\textbf{(A)} 10 \qquad \textbf{(B)} \dfrac{21}{2} \qquad \textbf{(C)} \dfrac{32}{3} \qquad \textbf{(D)} 11 \qquad \textbf{(E)} \dfrac{34}{3}

Full credit goes to MAA for authoring these problems. These problems were taken on the AOPS website.